Romanian girl, Dinu upsets Nina

The ambition of top seed in the women’s singles, Russian Nina Bratchikova to win the first leg of the 2012 Governor’s Cup Lagos Tennis Championship was stopped by a Romanian player, Cristina Dinu Friday.

Dinu, the tournament’s number 5 seed upset the Grand Slam player in a thrilling 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 encounter at the Lagos Lawn Tennis Club, Onikan.

The Romanian star will now meet South Africa’s Chanel Simmonds in Futures 1 final this afternoon. Simmonds beat Conny Perrin of Sweden 6-2, 6-2 in the semi final.

In the Men’s Singles, Sherif Sabry of Egypt beat his compatriot, Karim-Mohammed Maamoun in straight sets of 6-4, 6-2 to set up the final clash with Enrique Lopez-Perez of Spain who defeated Japanese Kento Takeuchi in 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 match.

Meanwhile, the qualifiers for the second leg takes place this weekend with the last leg main draw billed to serve off Monday.

Nigerian players who had a rough ride in the first leg will be hoping to make amends when the last lap begins Monday. Some of the home lads who spoke to SportingLife, blamed their early exits on match rustiness but remained optimistic that the last futures would be better.

“It was not an impressive first leg but we are still hopefull,” said Enosoregbe who failed in his attempt to make it beyond the quarter finals.